A few days ago, I met with Anne and we drove to Kilcummin beach in north Mayo for a photoshoot. We’ve shot together a few times before and as usual, she’s a great model and easy to work with. It helps that we know each other and we usually have a bit of a laugh along the way too.
If you’re on Facebook, be sure to give her page a Like. https://www.facebook.com/serafinafire/
While the forecast was for rain showers, the few hours we were there turned out to be lovely, with a mix of sunlight and fluffy clouds. Kilcummin beach is beautiful in any weather but when the sun shines, it is something else. Add in the fact that you’ll have it all to yourself and there is nowhere better. We only saw a handful of other people for all the time we were there.
I had shot here once before with Stacey.
I shot with my Sony A7R iii and the 24-70mm, F2.8 G Master lens. I used a Godox AD360 off camera flash with a small 6″ diffuser. In hindsight, I should have used the larger 37″ octobox – it would have given me more light to offset the bright sunshine.
However, I had decided not to use that as it’s quite cumbersome and can easily blow over with the wind while shooting in the open down at the coast. I think if I was to shoot down here again, I would need an assistant! 🙂
The light was changing all the time with the clouds blowing over. Sometimes, we had very bright sunshine and sometimes the light was more diffused. So the settings for one shot might be perfect and for the next shot, they could be totally off. It was a matter of constantly watching for the ambient light and adjusting flash power or camera settings to suit. When it did shine, the sun created nice shadows which gives the images a sense of depth.
I enjoyed this photoshoot as I felt it was a good opportunity to figure out more about off camera flash. I made many mistakes but I’m confident that I’ve learned from them too.
I really need to make more of an effort to get out and shoot with off camera flash more often. If you think you’d be up for a shoot, get in touch.
